The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) intent to nationalize irrigation associations comes at the expense of farmers’ interests and is fueled by political calculations ahead of next year’s local elections and the 2020 general elections, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus said yesterday.
Irrigation association elections have improved markedly since former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration abolished indirect elections by association members and granted farmers the right to directly elect association chairpersons, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan.
However, the DPP is about to take a step backward in democracy, as it wants the government to directly appoint association heads by changing the Organic Regulations for Irrigation and Water Conservancy Associations (農田水利會組織通則), Lin said.
The DPP’s draft amendments ostensibly serve to push for reforms, but the party really aims to plunder the associations’ assets, including land donated to the government by farmers for the construction of irrigation ditches, Lin said.
That would be especially unfair if the government plans to divert water used for irrigation to satisfy industrial needs, he said.
The DPP has claimed that vote-buying is rampant in the associations’ chairperson elections, but that claim does not make sense, Lin said.
The DPP should propose penalties for vote-buying at associations rather than try to control them, Lin said, adding that the associations are registered as public foundations under the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), which allows them to eschew penalties for vote-buying stipulated in the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
The DPP’s proposal to extend incumbent association heads’ tenure by two-and-a-half years is a way of coaxing incumbent association chairpersons into agreeing with the proposed amendment, KMT caucus vice secretary-general Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) said, asking the party whether it has job placement plans for other employees are after the associations are nationalized.
The proposed amendment would deny farmers the right to freely dispose of about 11 billion tonnes of water under Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) industry-heavy economic policy, she said, adding that the proposal is a DPP scheme to pander to corporations ahead of the two elections while the nation faces a water shortage.
“If the government can deprive civic groups’ of the fruits of their efforts, that raises the question whether it could one day also rob people of their property,” Wang said.
The nation’s 17 irrigation associations have a combined annual income of about NT$13.1 billion (US$436.6 million), 38 percent of which comes from government subsidies, KMT vice secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said.
That means the government might have to budget NT$80 billion in extra spending every year if the associations are nationalized, she said.
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